Ohio Company Settles Whistleblower Lawsuit for $1.1 Million on AD/CVD Evasion
Ohio-based Basco Manufacturing will pay $1.1 million to settle allegations that it transshipped and mislabeled merchandise to avoid paying antidumping and countervailing duties on aluminum extrusions it imported from China, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. The case is part of a larger False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuit against four companies and two individuals that imported aluminum extrusions manufactured by Chinese company Tai Shan. The government chose to intervene in the suit against Basco, California-based C.R. Laurence Co.; Florida-based Southeastern Aluminum Products Inc.; Texas-based Waterfall Group LLC; New York-based Northeastern Aluminum Corp.; Northeastern’s owner, William Ma; and Robert Wingfield, the U.S. representative of Chinese exporter Tai Shan Golden Gain Aluminum Products Ltd.
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The lawsuit alleged that Basco and the other defendants were part of a scheme where aluminum extrusions manufactured by Tai Shan were shipped from China to Malaysia, where the merchandise was repackaged, shipped to the U.S., and entered as aluminum extrusions from Malaysia not subject to AD/CV duties, said the attorney’s office. Even though the U.S. importers knew the aluminum extrusions had not undergone a substantial transformation in Malaysia, they still represented to CBP that the merchandise was of Malaysian origin, and therefore not subject to AD/CV duties on aluminum extrusions from China, it said
The False Claims Act lawsuit was brought by whistleblower James Valenti Jr., who now stands to share in the proceeds of the settlement. The portion of the settlement that will go to Valenti has yet to be announced, said the attorney’s office.